Chapter 21, Section 1“The Gilded Age and the Progressive Movement”

The Problems of the late 1800s

• Poverty• The spread of slums• Poor working

conditions in factories

• Economic depression

• Corrupt politicians• Corporations with

lots of control

Solutions to the Problems• SOLUTION TO THE

PROBLEMS? – A reform movement known as Progressivism

• The Progressives had 3 Major Goals1. Expand Democracy2. Protect Social Welfare3. Create Economic Reform

Gilded Age• The term came from a

novel by Mark Twain by the same name

• The novel highlighted the inequality between wealthy businessmen who profited during the industrial revolution and the workers who endured bad working conditions, long hours, and low pay

Political Machines• Powerful organizations that

used both legal and illegal methods to get their candidates elected to public office in the late 1800s in order to control local and state government

• They used their power to steal millions from govt. (construction kick-backs)

• They built parks,

Political machines were able to get the support to remain in power in a variety of ways.

• Stuffed ballot boxes with extra votes for their candidates

• Paid people to vote a certain way• Bribed vote counters• Political party bosses traded

favors for votes• Drew support from immigrants

who they often helped find housing and jobs

• Police forces were hired by the machine so they did not interfere

• City Boss – Usually the mayor, this person controlled thousands of municipal jobs, including police, fire and sanitation departments. The boss also controlled business licenses, and inspections, and had a lot of influence over courts and other municipal agencies.

• Ward Bosses – Working beneath the city boss, they helped the poor and gained votes by doing favors or providing services. In return for votes they would provide city jobs, contracts, or appointments.

• Precinct Workers – They worked to gain voters’ support on a city block or in a neighborhood and reported to the ward boss, and were usually 2nd generation immigrants themselves.

Organization of Political Machine

• Became head of New York City’s Tammany Hall in 1863

• Tammany Hall was the powerful Democratic political machine

• Between 1869 and 1873, the Tweed Ring pocketed as much as $200 million from the city in kickbacks and payoffs (nearly $8 billion in today’s $)

William Marcy “Boss” Tweed

Example of Boss Tweed’s Corruption • For example, the construction cost of the New York

County Courthouse, begun in 1861, grew to nearly $13 million – about $178 million in today's dollars, and nearly twice the cost of the Alaska Purchase in 1867.– A carpenter was paid $360,751 (roughly $4.9 million today) for one month's labor in a building with very little woodwork– a plasterer got $133,187 ($1.82 million) for two days' work

Pendleton Civil Service Act – law passed in 1883 that set up a merit system for awarding federal jobs (often requiring applicants to take an exam) to get the most qualified people the job, which eliminated some of the corruption in govt. from the patronage system

• Progressives – a group of reformers in the late 1800s that tried to improve society and solve the problems caused by rapid industrial and urban growth

• Muckrakers – journalists during the progressive era who wrote stories that described problems in society (such as child labor, racial discrimination, slum housing or corruption in business and govt.), which influenced voters and politicians to back reforms addressing these problems

Progressive reformers had many successes in helping the urban poor.

• They pushed for safer building codes and laws such as the N.Y. State Tenement House Act which required running water in housing

• Created settlement houses which helped those in slum neighborhoods

• Built new public parks• Began to address problems such as

pollution, impure water, and garbage collection which caused death rates to drop

• Set up kindergartens and passed laws requiring children to go to school

• John Dewey – a philosopher and writer of the progressive era that was a key supporter of early childhood education and wanted children to learn problem-solving skills, not just the memorization of facts

• He believed that education was the key to democracy as it requires well-informed population, which was especially true in the era of mass immigration in which he lived

Expanding Democracy & Voting Reforms

• Govt.-prepared Ballots: listed all candidates (as opposed to the ones issued by political machines listing only their candidates)• Secret Ballot: ensured privacy for voters

• Direct Primary: voters choose candidates, not party bosses

• Initiative: voters propose laws directly through petition

• Referendum: voters get to approve or reject a law that has been proposed or passed by a governing body

• Recall: voters directly remove somebody from elected office before their term in office is over

• 17th Amendment: U.S. Senators are now elected directly by the voters (instead of by state legislatures)

• Robert La Follette – Progressive Republican known as “Fighting Bob”

• Served as a Congressman, then Governor, then Senator for Wisconsin

• Spearheaded many Progressive reforms– Decreased power of political

machines– Fought for clean government– Fought for laws that made politicians

accountable• Had university professors and experts

help write laws• His model for progressive reforms was

copied by other states and became known as the “Wisconsin Idea”

• Unsuccessfully ran for President in 1912 and 1924